Highlight: War at Sea

This highlight presents seven case studies, which illustrate both past and current challenges of naval warfare and maritime security. These cases allow lecturers, students and professionals to dig into some legal issues arising around the Second World War’s battles on the high seas, as well as various maritime questions related to contemporary conflicts, such as blockades and the distinction between civilian and military ships.

During the Second World War, the particularities of the conduct of hostilities at sea gave rise to many legal questions. In British Policy towards German Shipwrecked, for example, a British Legal advisor argued that the surrender of submarines should generally not be accepted and that the attack should be pressed home in spite of the flying of a white flag. In British Military Court at Hamburg, The Peleus Trial, a German Captain defended his order to destroy all floating wreckage to prevent Allied planes from using it to find and destroy his ship – even though he knew that would mean a number of the shipwrecked would have no chance of surviving.

One can, however, not simply divide naval warfare between World War II battles and current conflicts. The technological developments that occurred in-between were progressive. As can be seen in Argentina/United Kingdom, The Red Cross Box, the 1982 Falkland/Malvinas Islands conflict marked the use by the British – for the first time in the history of medical transports – of radio communications by satellite. This case highlights how technical developments may pose challenges to the law.

If you are looking for a contemporary restatement of international law applicable to armed conflicts at sea, the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea was prepared between 1988 and 1994 by a group of legal and naval experts participating in their personal capacities. It recalls that the key principles of the law of war on land are applicable to war at sea. For example, the principle of distinction and the requirement to take precautionary measures when launching an attack are clearly formulated. The concept of “military objective” was included and adapted to war at sea. Two decades later, in an article in the above mentioned issue of the Review, Professor Steven Haines reviews the law dealing with armed conflict at sea: War at sea: Nineteenth-century laws for twenty-first century wars?

Photo caption: The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley pulls along side the Military Sealift Command dry cargo ship USNS Richard E. Byrd during a vertical replenishment at sea. Gridley is on a deployment with the Carl Vinson strike group to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. Copyright: Navy Visual News Service. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Travis Mendoza